The Washington State Achievers Scholarship program (WSA) started as part of an initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund and support 16 high schools in Washington State as they redesigned their schools in order to increase academic achievement for all of their students. The program was administered through the College Success Foundation, formerly the Washington College Success Foundation. All students at these 16 high schools (Cleveland High School, Clover Park High School, Dav... (more info)

The Washington State Achievers Scholarship program (WSA) started as part of an initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund and support 16 high schools in Washington State as they redesigned their schools in order to increase academic achievement for all of their students. The program was administered through the College Success Foundation, formerly the Washington College Success Foundation. All students at these 16 high schools (Cleveland High School, Clover Park High School, Davis High School, Foster High School, Henry Foss High School, Kent-Meridian High School, Kittitas High School, Lincoln High School, Mabton High School, Mariner High School, Mount Tahoma High School, Stevenson High School, Tonasket High School, Truman High School, West Valley High School, Yelm High School) also known as Achiever schools were eligible to apply for a scholarship through WSA. Each year for ten years (2001-2010), approximately 500 students were selected to receive a scholarship. The requirements were that students be from families with low to modest incomes, qualify for state need-grant assistance, and they must have the desire to attain a 4-year degree. Scholarship students were selected in the spring of their final year of high school and began attending college the following fall. The first cohort began college in the fall of 2001 and the final cohort began in the fall of 2010. Questions were asked pertaining to students' feelings of success throughout their years in college. There were asked about their involvement in the community, their attitudes and goals as scholars or non-recipients, how helpful they found their mentorship experience, as well as the reasons, if applicable, why their enrollment in college was interrupted. For each Cohort (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007) this study contains data for the Baseline, 1st Follow-up, 2nd Follow Up, and Longitudinal surveys where applicable. In addition, Non-Cognitive scores and Non-Enrollee surveys were also made available. Follow-up surveys and Longitudinal surveys were intended to capture the long-term effects of the program on the educational and occupational paths of the recipients. Demographic variables include questions about race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, college enrolled, major field of study, work history, and educational finances.

The data files are restricted from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.

Methodology

Study Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of the scholarship on the life outcomes of recipient students compared to non-recipient students. The outcomes examined are (1) matriculation into a college/university, (2) type of institution of higher education, (3) if Achievers were able to eliminate the need to work for pay (other than work-study awards), and (4) if Achievers were able to eliminate/reduce the need for student loans.

Study Design:
The study was conducted using cross-sectional survey files and a longitudinal survey design. There were five distinct cohorts drawn from five of the ten WSA award years. Except for Cohort 1, each cohort includes both WSA scholars and non-recipients. Non-recipients are defined as all students who applied for the program in the same year of the Scholars, but who were not accepted into the program. The study will follow all applicants through their college and post-graduate lives.
The longitudinal survey design allows for up to five rounds of data collection over a period of thirteen years. The first round of data collection is conducted at the end of the students first year out of high school after they have transitioned into college or the workplace. The first follow-up will take place at the end of the applicants' third year out of high school. For some this will correspond to their junior year in college. After the sixth year out of high school, the second follow-up will be performed. At this time Scholars are no longer eligible for support from WSA. The third and fourth follow-ups will occur after the eighth and thirteenth years out of high school, around the ages of 27 and 31, respectively. Because the study is scheduled to end in 2019, only Cohorts 1, 3, and 5 are scheduled to participate in all five rounds of data collection. Cohorts 7 and 10 will participate through the third follow-up.

Sample:
Cross-sectional data collection of approximately 500 diverse graduating high school students each year for 10 years from the 16 participating Washington State Achiever high schools Scholars program in addition to approximately 500 non-Scholar recipients, depending on Cohort year. Students must demonstrate financial need and qualify for state-need grant assistance. First Cohort having started college in 2001 and the last Cohort beginning college in the fall of 2010 with 2 follow-up surveys on each Cohort's progression.
Cohort 1 (2001-2002): Scholars (530) unintentional ommision of 30 adjusted Cohort 1 sample size; Cohort 2 (2002-2003):
84 non-enrollies; Cohort 3 (2003-2004): Scholars (544),
Non-recipients (471); Cohort 5 (2005-2006): Scholars (575),
Non-recipients (483); Cohort 7 (2007-2008): Scholars (530),
Non-recipients (600).

Time Method:
Cross-sectional
,
Longitudinal: Cohort/ Event-based

Weight:
In this study, the entire population of Achievers and the entire population of non-recipients were asked to participate in the survey, so weights were only needed to compensate for sub-population differences in non-response to the survey. For the cross-sectional datasets (baseline, first follow-up, second follow-up), the weight variable is called "WEIGHT" and for the longitudinal datasets the weight variables are "R1TO3WGT" (Cohort 1) and "R1_2WGT" (Cohort 3), respectively. For more information on weighting procedure, please refer to the weighting section of the documentation.

Response Rates:
Students attending a 2-year college were less likely to complete the survey than those attending a 4-year private or public institution, with non-response rates of 18.5 percent and 9.8 percent respectively in Cohort 1.
See Section 2.2,3 DATA COLLECTION for further details.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: